Emergency Room Adventure

Sunday night, we had an adventure.

There we were, having a grand old time at the in-laws and it was time to head home for some snuggle and movie time. As we were pulling out of the driveway, I started feeling funny. I had an ache in my upper back that caused tons of pain when I would breathe. I thought it was just another symptom of pregnancy, but it kept going all the way home and the pain was getting worse and had spread around to my chest. I figured if I could just get home and lay down, I'd feel better. So I laid down and had Gav rub my shoulders. It helped distract me, but it still hurt. So I did what any girl would do, I called my mom. I told her my symptoms and she said it sounded like I had something called pleurisy. She said to call my doc to see what he said. So I did and he told me to go into the hospital. He said it was probably nothing to worry about, but it could be a blood clot and that its definitely to be better safe than sorry in that kind of situation. 

Gav and I changed out of our pj's and got back in the car to make the drive over. We arrived and got registered (luckily we dont have to do that again for when I go into labor!) The ER nurse called up to Labor and Delivery and asked if they wanted to see me. They said yes because they wanted to check and make sure the baby was alright and to rule out labor as the cause of the pain.

We head up and I got hooked up to all sorts of gadgets and gizmos. So far everything looked good.

She monitored the baby's heartbeat and watched for contractions. 

(Apparently I was having some, but I didnt feel a thing.)

After some time, they said the baby was fine, but I should go get checked out in the ER to make sure I didnt have a blood clot. I gotta say, I would much rather stayed in Labor and Delivery because something about the ER gives me the absolute heebie jeebies.

The doc there told me that a simple blood test could determine if there is a chance there is a blood clot, but since I am pregnant, something about the levels in my blood are different and most the time the test comes up positive even if its not. If that was the case, he needed to do an EKG and some x-rays. If THAT was inconclusive, then I'd need a CT Scan. 

Holy moly. . . 

So they drew the blood and gave me an IV (I hate those things!)

Not only was it positive, but it wasnt even borderline positive like in most pregnancy cases, it was an absolute positive. 

Great.

Oh and at this point, I am not in any pain anymore, just chillin in the ER. . . 

So they sent in someone to do an EKG and someone else to take me in to do an x-ray.

After a LONG time, they came back saying it was inconclusive.

Of course. 

Now they wanted to do a CT Scan to be sure there wasnt a clot.

Fine!

The nurse told me that she was going to pump my IV with something that would help get results, but it sometimes caused a metallic taste in your mouth, made you really warm and makes you feel like you wet your pants. (TMI?)

Joy.

So they wheel me out to get that taken care of and my emotions started getting the best of me.

The nurse said they were double shielding me from the radiation to keep the baby as safe as possible, but the risk of a clot was worse than a little radiation. 

I broke down and started to cry. 

(They didnt even let Gavin in to keep me company! I was so mad!)

Here I am at 1:00 in the morning, at 36 weeks pregnant, I am tired, I am scared, I am ornery from waiting, I am uncomfortable and worried I am going to die. (Yes, I can be dramatic)

That poor nurse. 

I must have startled her because Gav said he could tell something odd happened by the look on her face when she wheeled me back.

After MORE waiting they finally came back and said that I was fine. They didnt know exactly what had caused the pain, but they knew it wasnt a blood clot and we were finally free to go home and Gav just needed to make sure my lips didnt turn blue or I passed out or something...

Whew... we were so relieved that there was nothing to worry about, but I was super freaked out of exposing the baby to the radiation. 

There really isnt anything we could have done differently and like I said, we were glad everything was ok. 

We were, however, a bit bummed out that I wasnt in labor. 

We are ready for her to be here!!!